Tatanagar third eye on tidiness

PINAKI MAJUMDAR

Platforms at Tatanagar will soon boast CCTV cameras

Litterbugs and slackers, beware. Tatanagar is watching you.

Taking seriousness about cleanliness to the next level, the A-category station under Chakradharpur division of South Eastern Railway (SER) has decided to install closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in every nook and cranny of its premises for 24x7 monitoring.

The signalling and telecom wing of the railway division is, currently, conducting a survey to identify strategic points to fix up the gadgets.

“Each platform will require around 20 CCTV cameras for flawless monitoring. The cameras will have to be installed at a distance of at least 20 metres from each other for better coverage. After the survey, we will work out an estimate and send it to our headquarters for necessary sanction,” said Sachidanand Lal, a senior officer of the signalling and telecom wing who is supervising the project.

The junction station has five platforms and, according to Lal, the length of each is around 500 metres. So, ideally 20 cameras will be required for proper monitoring. The official added that the waiting hall, dormitories and concourse area would also be under lens.

Of late, the SER authorities have been putting much emphasis on cleanliness and upkeep of railway stations under its jurisdiction.

In December last year, it began an anti-littering campaign at all stations in its four divisions — Chakradharpur, Ranchi, Kharagpur and Adra. The drive was carried out to implement a new clause added in the Indian Railways Act, which provides for imposition of a fine of up to Rs 500 on anyone caught littering railway premises and carriages.

Recently, Union railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal also stressed on enhancing tidiness of stations. Last month, during his trip to various stations in West Singhbhum, SER general manager A.K. Verma made an appeal to passengers to co-operate to keep railway premises neat and clean.

“The railways is serious about cleanliness on station premises. The CCTV cameras will enable us zero in on those passengers who lack civic sense and litter platforms and tracks. Moreover, the cameras will monitor slackness, if any, on part of the private agency hired for upkeep of the station,” said K.N. Biswas, the senior divisional commercial manager of Chakradharpur.

Officer-in-charge of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) Diganjay Sharma welcomed the initiative. “Installation of CCTV cameras will also help us keep tabs on movement of unscrupulous people,” he said, adding that in 2010, they had sent a similar proposal under their security revamp plan to the Railway Board in New Delhi. A nod is pending.

The Tatanagar station assumes importance from the security point of view because it is located on the Howrah-Mumbai main route. Several important trains travel via Tatanagar, including the high-profile Rajdhani Express and Duronto Express. The station sees a daily traffic of 90 mail, express and passenger trains, besides a footfall of more than 60,000 passengers.